Connect

Why Studying Female and Minority Psychopaths Matters

There is a great disparity in the amount of information available on the differences between male and female psychopaths. Having read most commercially available books on the subject, I’ve noticed that researchers go for the low hanging fruit – the population of men’s prisons. As a result, the overwhelming majority of texts preface their works by saying ‘female psychopaths surely exist but for the purposes of this work we shall only use masculine pronouns.’ This is unacceptable and reminds me of a certain Arrested Development subplot where Tobias does something similar with his own work ‘for convenience.’ I should also note that the overwhelming number of studies and books refer to Caucasian, heterosexual males.

The truth is, we don’t know much about the differences (or prevalence) female and other psychopaths encounter. There are a few case studies out there but very little on the “big picture.” For transparency, I warn the reader of my works to extend my experiences to either biological sex. The interactions of sex, gender, and antisocial behavior for transgender individuals are especially unknown.

‘Why does it matter?,’ the reader may ask. I could answer in terms of society’s wishes. I could posit that treatment strategies could be better tailored based on better symptomatic data based off proper demographics. But, this does not concern me. My concern is for my fellow brothers and sisters that live with antisocial behavior and thoughts on a daily basis. Given that we are such chameleons, often with weak identities, and that resources are generally unavailable to us, would it not be beneficial to know what our siblings look like? To know if we have reflections in them and they in us? How can we properly explore ourselves if some of us have no mirror to look at? I suppose my male readers may not care, but for my female ones, the impetus is clear: understanding oneself can only be done through the experiences of others and we have no substantial data on the challenges and intricacies of the psychopathic condition in females.

I know that it is particularly lonely for me. I am transgender. There are commonalities with respect to my life regarding the experiences of male psychopaths as portrayed in any number of books on the subject. However, ultimately, I have none to compare to. I am rare. I am transgender and I have been clinically diagnosed as psychopathic. Even the rare transgender reader that I communicate with can only teach me so much as they – thus far – have not been through the evaluation process. This may seem like a digression, but it certainly is not: unless we have data on those like us who have been confirmed to be psychopathic, then how are we to understand our own condition and the presence or absence of psychopathy therein? My strife is understandable as the proportion of transgender individuals is small. However, what of the female? What of the homosexual psychopath? What of the psychopath of non-European descent? They do exist and they have much to teach their sub-demographic and therefore they must be included in proper studies regarding psychopathy.

The mirror into our lives, by necessity, is the experience of others. Our weak identities and emotional retardation mean that often do not understand our own lives. We do not understand what makes us so unique in this world and any endeavor that explicitly – or implicitly – denies the ability for as many of us to be included robs us of badly needed insights. What we choose to do with those insights is a matter of taste. We deserve, as humans, the ability to know ourselves and our kin, however.